British Airways passengers are facing the threat of further disruption after cabin crew affiliated to Unite voted in favour of new strike action.

Cabin crew took part in a total of 22 days of industrial action last year, as part of a dispute that was originally about job cuts.

BA cabin crew are planning another strike (PA)

Relations between the airline’s management and Bassa, the division of Unite that represents cabin crew, deteriorated following the decision to remove travel perks from workers who took part in strikes.

That prompted the latest ballot, in which 5,751 of the 7,335 staff who voted backed further strikes.

Unite general secretary-designate Len McCluskey claimed the size of the majority showed the strength of feeling about BA’s behaviour.

‘Surely BA management must now wake up and listen to the voice of its skilled and dedicated employees,’ Mr McCluskey said.

‘This dispute will be resolved by negotiation, not litigation or confrontation, and it is to negotiation that BA management should now apply itself. We are ready.’

BA lost £150 million as a result of last year’s strikes and its passengers experienced further disruption when services were hit by bad weather last month.

It is desperate to avoid further flight cancellations, but showed no inclination to change its position and improve the offer it made to settle the dispute last year.

A spokesman for the airline said it already had contingency plans in place for potential strike action and claimed: ‘Unite has lost about 2,500 cabin crew members since this dispute started, as crew have voted with their feet.’